I think any Christian will agree that real-life miracles happened at the time of the Old and New Testament. I've also heard that modern day miracles are more common in developing countries than they are in western cultures. But in these places, verifiable evidence is usually much harder to come by.

What evidence exists for miracles that occurred after the Bible was written?

I'm interested in miracles on par with those performed in the Bible, especially the New Testament--changing water into wine, healing of the obviously and terminally ill, feeding of the 5,000, someone being raised from the dead, walking on water, etc.

I'm not interested in stories of the healing of a fever, or finding $20 "just in time", etc. These may well be miracles, but they're easily debatable, so I'm more interested in obvious miracles.

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5

I know people that will vehemently testify that they have witnessed miracles, but I have a feeling that eyewitness testimony is not the evidence you are looking for.
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JeffAug 27 '11 at 23:04

4

Luke 16:31: "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."
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Bob BlackSep 9 '11 at 15:06

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I've edited this to include all post-biblical times, since "modern" is a bit of a wide-ranging construct anyways (and most people won't accept "evidence" that isn't also "modern").
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RichardSep 21 '11 at 19:33

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Much as I would love for this question to stay open... isn't this a list question?
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WikisAug 23 '13 at 13:24

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Craig Keener of Asbury Theological Seminary has a recent two-volume work Miracles that deals with the biblical miracles (volume 1) and post-biblical accounts (volume 2), collecting and evaluating many accounts up to the present day. A quick google will turn up plenty of reviews, videos, interviews, articles, debates with Keener on the topic.
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metalAug 23 '13 at 13:38

8 Answers
8

I see miracles all the time. there's a secret though: "Without faith it is impossible to please God, for those who come to God must believe that HE is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." - Hebrews 11:6. Allot of people seem to think that faith is just believing God exists, and aren't quit sure that He will actually reward them for seeking Him, they think things like He'll only reward you if it's His will at the time. But having faith is defined as believing God will reward you for seeking Him.

Some of the miracles I have personally seen:

Cancer healed. (prayed for a few people who were given an expiration date, they went back to the doctor and were cancer free)

Irreparable nerve damage healed (instantly). There was a woman staying with my parents who had been shot in the leg. The bullet just missed one of her arteries, but it did do nerve damage. her specialist doctor said she would never have use of that leg again. When I came home to visit she started saying how she just can't take it any more. Me and her friend prayed, God instantly healed the nerve damage, she took of the brace and put down the crutches and started walking around praising God and dancing. My mom took her back to her doctor, while they were walking back to the office the woman ask the doctor if he noticed anything. He looked stunned for a moment and said, your off your crutches? that's not possible, he took her back an examined her and said, well I'm not sure what I can do for you, you're completely better.

Missing knuckle bone replaced and repaired. I was out in the park with a group that feeds and ministers to the homeless. One guy started talking to me, and mentioned that his knuckle had been smashed when he was a child, and showed me that it was gone. I asked him if he wanted it to be healed. He looked at me puzzled and said 'There's nothing to heal, my knuckle is missing, there's nothing there!' I told him, well originally before God created the world there was nothing, and then God spoke everything into existence. He thought about and said well I guess your right. I prayed for him, he felt something, and then a few weeks later I see him again. He comes running up to me all excited and pointing to his brand new knuckle. I later found out he had several other problems, like a bad leg, a plate in is head, and severe dyslexia so that he could only read a page a in a day. Other people ministered to him, all those problems where solved. He got off the street, stopped using his 'medical marijuana' and started leading a bible study at the mission(when before he couldn't read more than a page of text all day).

Missing breastbone grown back. A lady came up for prayer after a church service and explained that due to either a birth defect or childhood illness (I don't recall which) she did not have a breastbone, and that her ribs where stitched together with wire that needed to be checked and changed every few years. I prayed for her, next day she came back and reported the bone was there.

Met someone raised from the dead after being dead and locked in a morgue. I was with a group of people and God impressed upon us to stop at a certain house and ask if we could pray for the person. So we knocked on the door and asked and the lady that answered the door. She thought we had come for her to pray for us, she then explained that people from all over the world had been drawn to her house to hear her testimony. She explained how she had died, explained in great detail the sights of heaven, all matching Revelation's description, and how Jesus had sent her back because it wasn't her time yet. She then woke up in the morgue and started just as the coroner came in and saw her sitting up and of course was scared silly. She had been clinically dead since the day before.

The mother of one of my classmates has seen a small pot of spaghetti multiplied to feed many hundreds of people on several occasions in Africa, when they didn't have enough to feed the people they were ministering to.

People who travel to 3rd world countries do tend to see more miracles than they do in the states mainly because people tend to be more hungry for supernatural activity there. There is usually a lot of blatant demonic activity in those countries so people are used to the supernatural. In the west there is hardly any demonic activity comparatively because the enemies strategy is to make people think he doesn't exist. and there are many churches in the west that claim God stopped doing miracles because we have the Bible, so we don't need them anymore. They think this is faith, just believing what the bible said happened and not needing any proof. Miracles aren't about needing proof, Miracles are about God demonstrating His extravagant love. That's why when Jesus was walking around doing mighty works, he didn't do them for the pharisees. The pharisees were questioning Jesus identity as the Son of God, when they said show us a sign, Jesus had been showing signs all along by healing people, but the pharisees where asking him to prove He was God. So Jesus didn't indulge there unbelief. I see it all the time, God will allow someone demonstrating unbelief to be completely blind to something that really can't be argued with. So in closing, To me this is all about Hebrews 11:6. Faith is not just believing what God said, without any tangible proof(but that is a requirement), it's believing that God will reward you for seeking Him, if you don't meet both requirements, it's not pleasing to him. That doesn’t mean your damned for it, it just means your not fully trusting Him.

So basically, your answer is a very long way of saying "none"? Uncorroborated accounts with no verifiability are not evidence. My intention is not to belittle the answer; simply - in the context of the question, they don't seem to provide any. To take a recent example, the beatification of Teresa involved a "miracle". That miracle was then exposed by the people directly involved as pretty much fabrication...
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Marc Gravell♦Sep 1 '11 at 19:06

6

@WhatAboutJohn3_17 I didn't call you a liar. I merely observed that it is not verifiable. That is different. Those are some staggering claims - they would require significant evidence. I am happy for you, though. Personally, I cannot accept them at face value; which is not to say "nothing happened", but rather "they are not sufficiently recorded to provide proof or disproof".
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Marc Gravell♦Sep 1 '11 at 23:41

2

@Bob Re Teresa; the wife ("cured") and husband, and doctors involved have all stated to numerous sources the same things; a brief overview. A known and understood medical condition was treated with known procedures with known chances of success; she got better.
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Marc Gravell♦Sep 1 '11 at 23:45

2

Cancer has well known remission rates. Witnessing a cancer remission and thinking it's a miracle only means you are not familiar with modern medicine...
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Sklivvz♦Sep 21 '11 at 20:21

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This will be another question. @WhatAboutJohn3_17 I want to know more about this. I want names. I want names of the doctor. See, this kind of evidence is what I am looking for. However, quite often it's false positive and then it makes me wonder if Jesus' miracles are false positives too.
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Jim ThioNov 22 '11 at 3:41

"Evidence" is a difficult word to work with in this context. It implies scientific evidence, which requires independent reproducibility and verifiability, and if you had that, it wouldn't really be a miracle.

However, you mentioned feeding the 5000, and that reminds me of something I read several years ago. A preacher's wife wrote about an experience that she had one time. Her family lived on a mountain, near a ski resort. It was Thanksgiving when a huge snowstorm rolled in and stranded a bunch of people on the mountain. They understood it as their Christian duty to take in people who couldn't get home and give them shelter for the night.

They had a Thanksgiving day feast prepared, and they shared their food freely. But they had only made enough for their own small family. Nonetheless, all the refugees (she said it was a few dozen, if I recall correctly) ate their fill and there was somehow enough for everyone.

These sorts of things still happen today, but not in the sort of patterns that leave easily-examinable "evidence". Rather, the Lord gives us what we need when we truly need it.

In court, evidence does not have to be reproducible--just presented by a sufficient number of trust-worthy witnesses.
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FlimzyAug 24 '11 at 19:43

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@Flimzy that would not cut it here (as you need to distinguish natural phenomena from miracles). E.g. 1000 people seeing a lightning and thinking it's a miracle does not make it a miracle.
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Sklivvz♦Sep 21 '11 at 20:23

And if the Lord does not give it - can we conclude, that we didn't truly needed it? But this would be a circular argument, wouldn't it?
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user unknownDec 30 '11 at 3:06

"A preacher's wife wrote about an experience that she had one time." Have you even heard of the concept of "evidence"? Because this post isn't it.
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TRiGDec 31 '11 at 20:29

William David Upshaw was born on October 15, 1866, near Atlanta, Georgia. He served in Congress during the late 1910's and throughout the 1920's, and ran for the office of the President for the Prohibition Party in 1932.

When he was 18 years old he fell onto the crosspiece of a wagon frame and fractured his spine. He spent 7 years in bed, and was a cripple until the age of 66, when he could stand for only minutes at a time. At the age of 66 he was miraculously healed in a healing campaign and was able to walk perfectly for the rest of his life.

Shortly before his death at age 86, William Upshaw published his testimony in a tract which he sent to every Senator and member of the House of Representatives, as well as President Truman, Winston Churchill, King George, and Joseph Stalin.

The problem here is that personal testimony is hugely unreliable; just look at the people giving testimony to UFO abduction, or the (false) testimony given re the Teresa debacle. Especially by someone with a lot to gain by publicity...
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Marc Gravell♦Sep 9 '11 at 15:25

By which I mean: we don't know what else may have been involved by way of medical aid etc.
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Marc Gravell♦Sep 9 '11 at 15:27

5

Ah... in other words, this could have been a "trick" to gain political support? He was a fake cripple for 66 years and then pulled a fast one to get in the newspapers? Even in the 1950's healing was lumped into the quackpot category - probably wouldn't have been my #1 suggestion to get in the papers. But I understand your skepticism!
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Bob BlackSep 9 '11 at 15:36

To be fair, I myself am a little (lot) skeptical of the Mother Teresa "miracle".
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Bob BlackSep 9 '11 at 15:41

2

I don't doubt his injury; simply, we have a very limited perspective on that case - I would argue too little to form much evidential opinion either way. I would ony conclude "we don't know".
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Marc Gravell♦Sep 9 '11 at 15:48

-1 because it did not for 7 billion people. Either it did or it didn't. It didn't.
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Sklivvz♦Sep 21 '11 at 20:25

1

Reports are that both believers and unbelievers (including the anticlerical) confirmed this event. Good enough for a court of law. But apparently not good enough for others. Just because you cannot explain it does not mean it did not happen. Apparently the only skeptics are those who were not there to witness it.
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FirstrockSep 21 '11 at 20:53

@user unknown, the predictions of a public manifestation of Mary by the three children of Fatima were well publicized. Many newspaper reporters and skeptics were there. Look up Miracle of the Sun on Wiki.
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FirstrockDec 31 '11 at 5:36

The abortive Communist attempt to make the gates of Hell prevail against the Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe bled many martyrs and tortured many confessors, and subsequently many miracles have turned up. The books on Father Arseny follow an exemplary zek, and the miraculous comes to the fore every now and then. For instance, Fr. Arseny and a friend survived a night in deadly cold weather through a miraculous divine liturgy. The still incorrupt relics of saints also may constitute miracles for you, as well as the Holy Fire at Christ's Tomb. There was a recent saint in Alaska---not formally venerated yet, but the locals regard it as only a matter of time before Matushka Olga will be formally canonized. At least one person has had dreams of Mat. Olga treating her for illness, having never known of her beforehand. The real miracle in each of these stories, however, is the transformative power God manifested in them for bringing others closer to God, and their own personal holiness as well. For instance, if I remember correctly, Mat. Olga bore twelve children, and never rose her voice. Think about that. That is scary holy. Also, Fr. Dan Skvir of the Chapel of the Transfiguration at Princeton is married to (I think) the granddaughter of a miracle-worker. A blind woman came to Paschal liturgy, and upon communion regained her sight.

Of course God has seen fit to bless those outside the Orthodox Church with miracles. Princeton Faith & Action (the Princeton branch of Christian Union) has borne witness to miracles. Ask Mike Vincent about the time he fasted and saw a vision of light. Also ask the Knapkes about their visit to Fiji, and the healed land, specifically the river anomaly. Mike Vincent also has miracle stories originating from a Christian summer camp somewhere in California, I think.

Benjamin Dehkurdi broke his neck falling from a trampoline on May 23, 2005. On the way to the hospital, as Benjamin's father followed behind the ambulance to Langley Memorial Hospital in British Columbia, he phoned their pastor and they prayed together. When the extent of Benjamin's injuries was discovered he was transferred to Vancouver's Children's Hospital.

A photograph of the May 23rd x-ray showing what is known as a "Jefferson Fracture" is shown below.

The following day, May 24th, a CT scan was taken. In contrast to the previous day, it showed no break or fracture. Benjamin was discharged from the hospital with a normal spine, as indicated by the medical report.

I've also wondered about this. I feel like Miracles somewhat defy the idea of evidence, as Miracles seem to cease to be Miraculous if once you can completely explain how they happened.

As far as I know, most witnesses of miracles will document what they've seen, and give a witness of it if it's happened. This was similar to how Miracles were proven in during Christ's ministry. You either believed it or you didn't.

... In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. 2 Corinthians 13:1 KJV

I think of this quote applying not only to the word of God, but the word of the testimony of others. Multiple witnesses are usually the best thing we've got. It works the same way in the scientific world. You publish some findings, and you have some witnesses of those findings being true. With the scientific evidence you can repeat the process, and get the same results.

Miracles are a little different, as you aren't going to have the same results just doing the same things. Miracles have a lot to do with our own Faith in miracles. The conditions to make a Miracle happen follow a different system of laws than the more easily verifiable scientific laws of Chemistry, Biology, and Physics.

In the cases of people coming back to life or being healed, I suppose someone could take a measure of the condition of the person before and after, and come up with some way to prove that it was the same person. In those cases it's difficult to explain what happened because mankind still knows so little about how/why the human body really works (It's far more complex then the microchips we create that contain billions of transistors).

I really think if you're searching for evidence, but don't believe you'll find it, you may find it, but not realize it's evidence. If you truly believe in miracles, and have faith in Christ, you'll probably be a witness of them, but being a witness is evidence for you, not usually for anyone else.

This answer could use some work. The world record doesn't really have to do with the purported miracle, and the source of the miracle is a Wikipedia article with "multiple issues" according to the mile-long notice at the top.
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Mr. BultitudeJan 2 at 16:23

This is also anecdotal evidence. I think the question is looking more for Red Sea Parting kind of stuff.
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fredsbendJan 2 at 18:31